Watch Complications
A complication is watchmaking's word for any function a watch performs beyond telling the plain time -- from a simple date window to a stopwatch, a second time zone, a moonphase or a gravity-defying tourbillon. This hub explains every complication you will meet on a spec sheet or a dial, grouped into four areas: calendar & date, travel & time zones, timing & scales, and haute horology. It is the canonical home for the chronograph and the GMT / dual-time complication. Where a term is really a performance spec -- power reserve, for instance -- we explain the display here and link out to the full entry.
Complications at a glance
| Complication | What it adds | How you read it | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Day of the month | Window at 3 o'clock | Everyone -- the everyday default |
| Day-Date | Weekday plus date | Two windows or apertures | Full short calendar at a glance |
| Chronograph | Built-in stopwatch | Pushers, central hand, sub-dials | Timing, motorsport, the sporty look |
| GMT / Dual Time | A second time zone | Extra hand on a 24-hour scale | Travellers and remote workers |
| Moonphase | Lunar cycle display | Painted moon in an aperture | Dress watches, charm over utility |
| Tourbillon | Gravity-averaging cage | Rotating escapement on show | Showcasing watchmaking craft |
A note on a common mix-up: a chronograph is a function (a stopwatch); a chronometer is a movement certified for accuracy. They sound alike but mean different things -- see the performance hub for chronometer certification.
Calendar & Date
Date
The simplest and most common complication -- a small window, usually at 3 o'clock, showing the day of the month. Anything beyond plain hours and minutes counts as a complication, and the date is where most watches start.
What it is
A date complication shows the current day of the month, most often through a small cut-out window (an aperture) in the dial at the 3 o'clock position, or sometimes via a pointing hand on a sub-dial. The number sits on a printed disc that turns once every 24 hours, clicking the date over around midnight. It is the first complication most buyers meet and the one fitted to the widest range of watches.
How it works
A date wheel -- a flat ring printed 1 to 31 -- sits under the dial and is advanced one step each day by the movement's calendar mechanism. Because the wheel simply counts to 31, a plain date watch does not know that some months are shorter, so it needs manual correction at the end of any month with fewer than 31 days. A quick-set function lets you adjust the date through the crown without spinning the hands round.
In our range
The date is near-universal across our watches -- Tissot, Citizen, BOSS, Tommy Hilfiger and many Olivia Burton and Vivienne Westwood models carry it. Browse Tissot watches or the wider Citizen range, and see how the calendar fits into the movement.
Who makes it: Near-universal -- Tissot, Citizen, BOSS, Tommy Hilfiger
Day-Date
Shows both the day of the week and the date -- two pieces of calendar information at a glance. A practical everyday upgrade on the plain date.
What it is
A day-date complication displays the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday and so on) alongside the day of the month. The day usually appears in its own arc-shaped window or a longer aperture, while the date keeps its familiar small window, giving you the full short-form calendar without reaching for a phone.
How it works
Two separate discs turn beneath the dial -- a seven-step day ring and a thirty-one-step date ring -- each advanced by the calendar mechanism around midnight. Better movements switch both over instantly at midnight; simpler ones drag the change over an hour or two. Many offer quick-set adjustment for each, and some day discs can be set to display in two languages. The name Day-Date is also a famous Rolex model line, but as a complication it simply means a watch showing day and date together.
In our range
Day-date layouts appear across Tissot and Citizen ranges and on many BOSS and Tommy Hilfiger dress watches. Explore Tissot and BOSS watches for examples.
Big Date
An oversized, easy-to-read date -- formed from two discs side by side so the numerals can be larger than a single small window allows.
What it is
A big date (or grande date) is a date display enlarged for legibility. Instead of one disc squeezing all 31 numerals into a tiny window, it uses two discs -- one for the tens digit, one for the units -- shown through a wider double window, so the figures can be printed much larger and read at a glance.
How it works
One disc carries the units (0 to 9) and a second carries the tens (0, 1, 2, 3). The mechanism advances the units disc each day and clicks the tens disc round at the right moments, so together they spell out 01 through 31 in tall, clear numerals. A faint dividing line between the two halves of the window is the tell-tale sign of a big date. It trades a little extra mechanical complexity for a clear gain in readability.
Why it matters
Legibility -- a big date is genuinely easier to read for anyone who finds a standard date window small. It is a popular feature on dress and everyday watches where clarity matters. For more on dial readability see the measurements hub.
Annual Calendar
A clever calendar that knows the length of every month except February -- so it only needs correcting once a year, at the end of February.
What it is
An annual calendar is a date complication that automatically accounts for the difference between 30 and 31-day months. It tracks the day, date and month correctly through the whole year and only needs a single manual correction -- on 1 March, because it does not know about February's short length or leap years.
How it works
Where a simple date watch counts blindly to 31, an annual calendar uses a geared programme wheel that recognises which months have 30 days and which have 31, skipping the non-existent 31st in short months. It cannot handle February's 28 or 29 days, so once a year you set it forward by hand. It is the practical middle ground between a plain date and a full perpetual calendar.
Where it sits
An annual calendar is a genuine step up in watchmaking, found on higher-end mechanical dress watches. It is a complication associated with luxury Swiss houses rather than our current range -- included here so you understand the term when comparing watches. For the simpler everyday calendars we do stock, see the date and day-date entries above.
Perpetual Calendar
The ultimate calendar -- it correctly tracks days, dates, months AND leap years, needing no adjustment until the year 2100. One of haute horology's signature feats.
What it is
A perpetual calendar (quantieme perpetuel) is a mechanical calendar so clever it never needs date correction in normal use. It knows the length of every month, including February, and even accounts for the four-year leap-year cycle -- so a perpetual calendar set today will show the right date until the year 2100, when the Gregorian calendar skips a leap year.
How it works
At its heart is a mechanical memory: a 48-month programme cam (4 years times 12 months) that physically encodes how many days each month has, leap years included. The movement reads this cam to advance the date by the right amount at the end of each month -- jumping from 28 February straight to 1 March in common years, and including the 29th every fourth year. Building this in tiny gears, without electronics, is one of the great achievements of fine watchmaking.
Where it sits
The perpetual calendar is a grand complication, reserved for serious mechanical watches. It belongs to the world of high-end Swiss maisons rather than our range -- listed here so the term is clear when you read about luxury watches. For accessible Swiss mechanical watchmaking, see Tissot's automatics via the movements hub.
Moonphase
A poetic display that tracks the waxing and waning of the moon through a small aperture -- equal parts astronomy and decoration.
What it is
A moonphase complication shows the current phase of the moon -- new, waxing, full, waning -- usually through a curved window in the dial. A painted moon (often two moons on a rotating disc) drifts across a starry sky behind a wavy mask, recreating the lunar cycle on your wrist. It is one of the oldest and most romantic complications.
How it works
The lunar month is about 29.5 days, so a traditional moonphase uses a disc with two moons and a 59-tooth driving wheel (twice 29.5), advanced one tooth a day to carry each moon across the aperture and back. Because the real cycle is 29.53 days, a standard moonphase drifts by roughly a day every two and a half years; more precise astronomical versions reduce that error to a day every century or more. Most are set with a recessed pusher to match tonight's actual moon.
Why people love it
The moonphase is prized for charm rather than utility -- a touch of astronomy and craft that softens an otherwise technical dial. It appears most on dress watches. More a feature of traditional Swiss and German dress watches than our core sports and fashion range.
Travel & Time Zones
How a GMT shows a second time zone
Main hands: local 12h time→4th hand: 2nd zone on 24h scale→Rotating bezel: optional 3rd zone
GMT / Dual Time
Shows a second time zone at once -- usually via an extra hand reading a 24-hour scale. Named for Greenwich Mean Time, it is the traveller's complication of choice. This is the canonical home for the GMT complication.
What it is
A GMT or dual-time watch displays two time zones simultaneously. The name comes from Greenwich Mean Time, the world's reference time line. The classic execution adds a fourth, often coloured, hand that points to a 24-hour scale -- so while the normal hands show your local time on a 12-hour dial, the extra hand shows a second zone (home, or GMT) on the 24-hour track. The 24-hour scale matters because it removes the day-or-night ambiguity of a 12-hour read-out.
The 24-hour hand and bezel
The GMT hand circles the dial once every 24 hours instead of 12. The second zone is read either against a fixed inner 24-hour ring or, on travel-friendly models, against a rotating 24-hour bezel that you can turn to line up a third reference. A bidirectional rotating bezel effectively lets a GMT watch show three time zones at once -- local, the GMT hand's zone, and a bezel offset.
True GMT vs caller GMT
There are two mechanisms. A true (or flyer) GMT lets you jump the local hour hand forward or back in one-hour steps independently, without stopping the watch -- ideal for travellers, who simply re-set local time on landing while the GMT hand keeps home time. A caller (or office) GMT instead lets you set the independent 24-hour hand via the crown while the main hands run normally -- better suited to someone tracking a distant colleague's time from a desk. Knowing which you have changes how you use the watch abroad.
In our range
Dual-time and world-traveller features appear across capable sports and pilot-style watches. Citizen's pilot and Promaster lines are the natural place to look in our cabinets -- browse Citizen Promaster and the wider Citizen range. For travel-watch buying advice see the how to choose a watch guide.
Who makes it: Pilot & dual-time styles -- Citizen (Promaster)
World Time
Reads the time in all 24 major time zones at once, via a rotating ring of city names around the dial -- the globe-trotter's complication.
What it is
A world-time (heure universelle) complication shows the current time in every one of the 24 standard time zones simultaneously. A ring of 24 city names -- one representative city per zone, such as London, Paris, New York, Tokyo -- circles the dial, paired with a rotating 24-hour ring, so a glance tells you what o'clock it is anywhere in the world.
How it works
The 24-hour ring turns once a day in step with the time. To read another zone you find its reference city on the outer ring and read the hour against it on the 24-hour scale; a day-and-night shaded ring shows whether it is light or dark there. Setting your home city to the 12 o'clock position aligns the whole display, after which every zone updates automatically as time passes.
Where it sits
World time is a sophisticated travel complication, most associated with luxury Swiss watchmaking. It sits above our current range -- included so the term is clear -- while a GMT or dual-time watch gives most travellers the second zone they actually need. See the GMT entry above for the everyday traveller's option.
Alarm
A watch that can buzz or chime at a set time -- a mechanical or electronic reminder on the wrist. Practical for travellers and a notable mechanical feat in its day.
What it is
An alarm complication lets a watch sound a signal at a pre-set time, like a tiny travel alarm clock on your wrist. On a mechanical alarm watch a separate mainspring drives a hammer that strikes the case or a gong; on a quartz watch a small piezo buzzer beeps electronically. It is grouped here with travel features because a wrist alarm is most useful away from home.
How it works
A mechanical alarm uses its own going barrel and a setting disc or extra hand to mark the alarm time; when the running time reaches it, a released hammer vibrates rapidly against the caseback or an internal gong for a buzzing ring. Quartz alarms simply compare the set time to the current time electronically and trigger a beeper. Either way you typically set the alarm via the crown or a pusher and switch it on or off as needed.
Where it sits
The mechanical alarm watch is a classic complication. Today an alarm is more commonly an electronic feature on multifunction quartz and digital watches than a feature of our core dress and sports range. For wrist reminders, quartz multifunction models are the practical route -- see the movements hub on quartz.
Timing & Scales
How a chronograph times an event
Top pusher: START→Central seconds runs→Sub-dials tally minutes & hours→Top pusher: STOP→Read the scale→Bottom pusher: RESET
Chronograph
A watch with a built-in stopwatch -- start, stop and reset an elapsed-time measurement using pushers, while the watch keeps telling the time. The most popular complication of all, and the canonical home for the term here.
What it is
A chronograph is a watch that combines normal timekeeping with an independent stopwatch. The running seconds, minutes and hours stay on the main dial, while a separate central seconds hand and one or more sub-dials measure and accumulate elapsed time on demand. The word comes from the Greek for 'time writer'. Crucially, a chronograph is a function, not an accuracy rating -- it is often confused with a chronometer, which is a movement certified for precision. A watch can be one, the other, both or neither.
Pushers and sub-dials
A chronograph is operated by two pushers flanking the crown. The top pusher starts and stops the timing; the bottom pusher resets the chronograph hands to zero. The large central hand sweeps the elapsed seconds, while small sub-dials (also called registers or counters) tally the elapsed minutes and hours -- a typical layout has a 30-minute and a 12-hour counter, plus a running-seconds sub-dial so you can see the watch is still going. The number and position of these sub-dials give the chronograph its distinctive busy, sporty face.
Tachymeter and timing scales
Many chronographs add a tachymeter scale around the bezel or dial rim, which converts elapsed time into a speed or rate -- time a measured mile and the chronograph seconds hand points to the average speed. Other timing scales pair naturally with the chronograph too: a pulsometer reads heart rate, and a telemeter measures distance to an event you can both see and hear. Each turns the stopwatch into a purpose-built measuring tool -- see the dedicated tachymeter and pulsometer entries below.
Flyback and split-second
Two advanced chronograph types are worth knowing. A flyback chronograph can be reset and restarted from zero with a single press while running -- useful for timing consecutive laps without the stop-reset-start sequence. A split-second (rattrapante) chronograph has two stacked central seconds hands, so you can stop one to record an intermediate time while the other keeps running, then snap it back to catch up -- ideal for timing two events that start together. Flyback and rattrapante are higher complications associated with specialist Swiss makers rather than our range.
In our range
The chronograph is well represented in our cabinets, especially in sporty quartz form. BOSS and Tommy Hilfiger both offer dedicated chronograph lines, and Tissot's Swiss chronographs span quartz and mechanical. Browse BOSS chronograph watches, Tommy Hilfiger chronograph watches and Tissot watches.
Who makes it: Sporty quartz & Swiss chronographs -- BOSS, Tommy Hilfiger and Tissot
Tachymeter
A scale, usually on the bezel, that turns the chronograph into a speedometer -- time something over a known distance and read its speed directly.
What it is
A tachymeter (or tachymetre) is a fixed scale printed around the bezel or outer dial of many chronographs. It converts an elapsed time, measured with the chronograph seconds hand, into a rate per hour -- most familiarly a speed in units per hour. It only works alongside a chronograph, which is why the two are so often paired.
How it works
Start the chronograph as a moving object passes a marker, and stop it after it covers a known distance -- say one mile or one kilometre. Wherever the chronograph seconds hand lands on the tachymeter scale is the average speed in miles (or km) per hour. The scale is simply 3600 divided by the elapsed seconds, pre-printed so you read the answer directly rather than doing the maths. It works for any rate -- units produced per hour on a production line, for instance, not just vehicle speed.
Why it matters
The tachymeter is the classic motorsport and aviation scale, and a big part of the sporty look of racing chronographs. It needs no battery or extra mechanism -- it is just a cleverly calibrated ring read against the chronograph hand. See the chronograph entry for the stopwatch it depends on.
Pulsometer
A chronograph scale calibrated to read heart rate -- count a set number of pulse beats and the hand points straight to beats per minute. The doctor's complication.
What it is
A pulsometer (or pulsometre) is a chronograph scale graduated to measure a pulse, designed historically for doctors and nurses to read a patient's heart rate without arithmetic. The scale is marked 'graduated for 15 (or 30) pulsations' -- the number of beats you count before reading off the result.
How it works
Start the chronograph and count the patient's pulse; on reaching the stated number of beats -- commonly 30 pulsations -- stop the chronograph, and the seconds hand points directly to the heart rate in beats per minute on the pulsometer scale. Because the scale is pre-calculated for that beat count, you get the bpm reading instantly. A telemeter scale works on the same chronograph-plus-scale principle but measures distance instead, using the gap between seeing and hearing an event.
Where it sits
The pulsometer is a charming, historic medical complication. It is most associated with vintage and specialist Swiss chronographs rather than our current range -- included so the scale is clear when you see one. It always rides on a chronograph, so any pulsometer watch is first and foremost a chronograph.
Slide Rule
A rotating logarithmic bezel that performs multiplication, division and conversions -- the pilot's on-wrist calculator, made famous by aviation watches.
What it is
A slide-rule complication is a circular logarithmic calculator built into the watch as a rotating outer bezel working against a fixed inner scale. By turning the bezel to line up numbers, a pilot or navigator can carry out multiplication, division, unit conversions and rate problems -- fuel burn, airspeed, distance, currency -- all without electronics. It is the defining feature of the classic pilot's chronograph.
How it works
Both the rotating bezel and the dial flange carry logarithmic scales. Because adding logarithms multiplies the underlying numbers, lining up one value on the bezel against another on the fixed scale lets you read the product or quotient elsewhere on the ring -- the same principle as a straight slide rule, wrapped into a circle. With practice it converts miles to kilometres, litres to gallons, computes ground speed from time and distance, and more. It is purely mechanical: just two printed scales and your fingers.
Where it sits
The slide-rule bezel is forever linked with aviation watches and remains a beloved tool-watch feature. The famous examples come from specialist pilot-watch makers rather than our range -- listed here so the bezel is recognisable. For everyday pilot-style watches, Citizen's aviation lines are the place to look -- see Citizen Promaster.
Haute Horology
Tourbillon
A rotating cage that carries the entire escapement around to average out the effect of gravity -- invented in 1801 and now the showpiece of fine mechanical watchmaking.
What it is
A tourbillon (French for 'whirlwind') is a rotating cage that holds the balance wheel, hairspring and escapement and turns them slowly -- usually once a minute -- as the watch runs. Patented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801, it was devised to counter the effect of gravity on a pocket watch held in one position for long periods, which makes the rate vary depending on orientation.
How it works
Because gravity pulls unevenly on the balance and hairspring depending on the watch's position, a static escapement runs at slightly different rates in different orientations. The tourbillon mounts the whole escapement inside a constantly rotating carriage, so over each rotation the positional errors average out and cancel rather than accumulate. It is mesmerising to watch through a dial cut-out, the entire timekeeping heart visibly turning in real time.
Why it matters today
On a wristwatch, which changes position constantly anyway, the practical accuracy benefit is debated -- but the tourbillon endures as the supreme demonstration of a watchmaker's skill, demanding extreme precision and hand-finishing to build a cage light and true enough to work. A grand complication of the highest-end Swiss maisons, far above our range -- included so you understand what a tourbillon is and why it commands the prices it does. For the escapement and balance it spins, see the movements hub.
Power Reserve Indicator
A dial display showing how much running time is left in a wound mechanical watch -- a fuel gauge for the mainspring, telling you when to wind.
What it is
A power-reserve indicator is a sub-dial, scale or hand that shows how much energy remains in a mechanical watch's mainspring -- effectively a fuel gauge reading from 'full' (just wound) down to 'empty'. It is a display complication: it does not change how long the watch runs, only how clearly you can see the remaining reserve. The reserve itself -- the hours of running time -- is the performance figure covered fully on our performance hub.
How it works
The indicator is geared to the mainspring barrel through a differential, so it reads how far the spring has wound up or run down and points a hand along a scale marked in hours or simply full-to-empty. On an automatic it climbs as your wrist movement winds the watch and falls when it sits idle; on a hand-wound watch it rises as you turn the crown, telling you when the spring is fully charged so you can stop winding. It is most useful on long-reserve and manual watches where you want to know before the watch stops.
Reserve vs indicator
Keep the two ideas separate: the power reserve is how long the watch runs off a full wind -- 38 to 50 hours on a standard automatic, a full 80 hours on a Tissot Powermatic 80 -- while the power-reserve INDICATOR is just the dial display of that figure. For the reserve itself, the 80-hour benchmark and how to make the most of it, see the canonical power reserve entry on the performance hub. To shop long-reserve Swiss automatics, browse Tissot Powermatic 80.
Frequently asked questions
What is a watch complication?
A complication is any function a watch performs beyond simply telling the hours and minutes. That ranges from a simple date window to a chronograph stopwatch, a second time zone, a moonphase or a tourbillon. The more complications a watch has, the more complex -- and usually the more prized -- its movement.
What is the most popular watch complication?
The date is the most common complication by far, fitted to the majority of watches. After that, the chronograph (a built-in stopwatch) is the most popular extra function, followed by dual-time or GMT for travellers.
What is the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer?
A chronograph is a function -- a built-in stopwatch with pushers and sub-dials. A chronometer is a movement officially certified for accuracy, usually by COSC. They sound alike but are unrelated: a watch can be a chronograph, a chronometer, both, or neither.
How do you use a chronograph?
The top pusher (above the crown) starts and stops the timing; the bottom pusher resets the chronograph hands to zero. The large central hand sweeps the elapsed seconds while the small sub-dials count the elapsed minutes and hours. The normal time keeps running throughout.
What are the sub-dials on a chronograph for?
The small sub-dials, also called registers or counters, tally elapsed time -- typically a 30-minute counter and a 12-hour counter -- plus a running-seconds sub-dial that shows the watch itself is still going. They let the central hand stay free to sweep the elapsed seconds.
What is a tachymeter and how does it work?
A tachymeter is a scale on a chronograph's bezel or dial that converts elapsed time into speed. Start the chronograph as something passes a marker, stop it after a known distance, and the seconds hand points to the average speed in units per hour. It only works with a chronograph.
What does GMT mean on a watch?
GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time. On a watch it means a complication that shows a second time zone, usually through an extra hand reading a 24-hour scale, so you can see two zones -- such as home and local time -- at once. It is the classic traveller's feature.
What is the difference between a true GMT and a caller GMT?
On a true (or flyer) GMT you can jump the local hour hand in one-hour steps independently, so a traveller just resets local time on landing while the GMT hand keeps home time. On a caller (or office) GMT you set the independent 24-hour hand from the crown instead -- handier for tracking a distant zone from your desk.
Why do GMT watches have a 24-hour scale?
Because a second time zone needs to show day or night without ambiguity. A 12-hour read-out cannot tell you whether it is 9am or 9pm in the other zone, but a hand circling a 24-hour scale once a day makes it unmistakable.
What is a perpetual calendar?
A perpetual calendar is a mechanical calendar that automatically tracks the correct date through every month, including February, and accounts for leap years -- so it needs no correction until the year 2100. It uses a 48-month programme cam to 'remember' the length of each month.
What is the difference between an annual and a perpetual calendar?
An annual calendar knows the difference between 30 and 31-day months but not February, so it needs correcting once a year on 1 March. A perpetual calendar also handles February and leap years, so it needs no correction in normal use for decades.
What is a big date complication?
A big date is an enlarged, easier-to-read date display formed from two separate discs -- one for the tens digit, one for the units -- shown through a wide double window. A faint dividing line down the middle of the window is the tell-tale sign.
How does a moonphase watch work?
A moonphase shows the phase of the moon through a curved aperture. A disc carrying two painted moons is advanced one step a day by a 59-tooth wheel, drifting each moon across the window over the roughly 29.5-day lunar cycle. Most are set with a recessed pusher to match the real moon.
What is a tourbillon and is it worth it?
A tourbillon is a rotating cage holding the entire escapement, which turns to average out the effect of gravity on accuracy. Invented in 1801 for pocket watches, its practical benefit on a moving wristwatch is debated, but it remains the supreme showcase of a watchmaker's skill -- and is priced accordingly.
What is a power reserve indicator?
A power-reserve indicator is a dial display -- a hand and scale or sub-dial -- showing how much running time is left in a wound mechanical watch, like a fuel gauge for the mainspring. It tells you when to wind. The reserve itself (the hours of running time) is a separate spec covered on our performance hub.
What is the difference between power reserve and a power reserve indicator?
Power reserve is how long a mechanical watch runs off a full wind -- 38 to 50 hours on a standard automatic, 80 hours on a Tissot Powermatic 80. The power-reserve indicator is simply the dial display that shows how much of that reserve is left at any moment.
What is a slide-rule bezel?
A slide-rule bezel is a rotating logarithmic ring that works as an on-wrist calculator, letting a pilot do multiplication, division and unit conversions by lining up numbers. It is the defining feature of the classic pilot's chronograph and is purely mechanical.
What is a pulsometer scale?
A pulsometer is a chronograph scale calibrated to read heart rate. You start the chronograph, count a set number of pulse beats (often 30), then stop it, and the seconds hand points straight to the heart rate in beats per minute. It was designed for doctors and nurses.
What is a day-date watch?
A day-date watch shows both the day of the week and the day of the month, usually through two windows or apertures. It gives you the full short-form calendar at a glance and is a practical upgrade on a plain date.
Do chronograph watches keep normal time too?
Yes. A chronograph is a normal watch with an added stopwatch. The hours, minutes and running seconds keep telling the time as usual; the chronograph hands only move when you start the stopwatch with the pusher, and reset to zero when you are done.
Which complications does OD's stock?
Our watches focus on the practical, everyday complications: date and day-date across most ranges, and chronographs in particular from BOSS, Tommy Hilfiger and Tissot, plus pilot and dual-time styles from Citizen. The grander complications -- perpetual calendars, tourbillons, world time -- are explained here for reference but sit above our range.
Are quartz chronographs as good as mechanical ones?
For most buyers, yes. A quartz chronograph is more accurate, more affordable and lower maintenance, and times events just as usefully. A mechanical chronograph is prized for its craft and movement, but the quartz chronographs from BOSS and Tommy Hilfiger deliver the function brilliantly for everyday use.